1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to an annular core for a nuclear reactor, and more particularly to an annular core for a pebble bed reactor.
2. Description of Related Art
Annular Pebble Bed Advanced High Temperature Reactors (PB-AHTR) are known for their low-pressure, chemically inert liquid-salt coolant, high heat capacity and capability for natural circulation heat transfer. They generally provide robust safety (including fully passive decay-heat removal) and improved economics with passive safety systems that allow higher power densities and longer-term scaling to large reactor sizes [>1000 MW(e)] for central station applications.
Recent studies show that the annular PB-AHTR would be a transformation energy technology, capable of being deployed in a variety of power levels (up to multiple gigawatts) to meet the needs of electricity generation and process heat applications. Construction costs are estimated to be substantially below those for current modular helium reactor (MHR) technology and below those for light water reactor (LWR) technology as well. Fuel utilization will be substantially better than for LWRs and MHRs, and recent studies have demonstrated the capability to operate with thorium seed/blanket core configurations for both open and closed fuel cycles as well as use for LWR spent fuel transuranics transmutation.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved core design to provide better neutron shielding for structures and improved neutron economy in pebble bed reactors, among other improvements.